Angiogenesis in prostate cancer and benign pros- tatic hyperplasia assessed by VEGF and CD-34 IHC: A comparative clinico-pathological study

Abstract

Introduction: Prostate carcinoma is still a dreaded disease wanting more effective treatment and definitive early detection for a better prognosis and cure of life.

Objective: The present study was planned to investigate the correlation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression level and microvessel density (MVD) between the BPH and prostate cancer subjects to analyze their diagnostic and prognostic value.

Subjects and methods: Freshly diagnosed histopathologically confirmed 50 cases of prostate cancer and 50 cases of BPH were included. Expression level of VEGF was measured using Immunohistochemistry (IHC), while MVD was determined via CD34 endothelium-specific antibodies. In the case group, we have also recorded the Gleason’s score of prostate cancer and investigated its correlation with angiogenic factor VEGF and MVD CD34.

Results: The study showed a statistically significant difference value of VEGF expression level between the prostate cancer and BPH group (p < 0.001). The mean MVD CD34 in the prostate cancer and BPH groups were 29.66 ± 0.21 and 9.96 ± 0.25, respectively. The difference of MVD CD34 expression between the groups was also found significant (p < 0.001). VEGF scoring was significantly correlated with Gleason’s scores of prostate cancer (p = 0.005).

Conclusions: The present findings may support the assumption that VEGF and CD34 expression level might have an important role in the prediction of prostate cancer as it was significantly differed with BPH. In addition, VEGF expression level showed intense staining in the tissue samples with higher grading of prostate cancer which reveals its importance as prognostic marker.

Keywords: Prostate cancer; Angiogenesis; Vascular endothelial growth factor; VEGF; CD34; Microvessel density